As we’ve been working our way through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, we’ve been looking for little things to cut from our budget. Of course, we prefer that these not be things that we’ll miss too much!
One of the things I’ve noticed lately is that we have probably some wiggle room in our utility bills. Now I’m not talking about sitting in the dark or reading by candlelight, There are a few simple things that we could do to bring these bills down even further. I wanted to share my ideas with you and see what other ideas you have for lowering utility bills.
The Electric Bill
The obvious task here would be to turn off the lights when we’re not using them. You would think that would be easy. But we’ve gotten into the bad habit of leaving a room without turning off the lights. I realized this the other night when Emma had gone to bed and Jason and I were both in our office/computer room. I walked to the kitchen to get a drink, and literally every single light in our downstairs was ON! EEKS! I counted the light bulbs, and there were 13 bulbs burning for no one at all. So I’m trying to be more diligent about flipping the switch when we leave a room.
Living in Ohio at this time of year means that you might want to run the air conditioning one day and the furnace the next! We’ve started opening the windows and turning on our ceiling fans. Not only does it air out the house a bit, it lowers the temperature without running the furnace.
The Gas Bill
I’m not willing to freeze in the winter or sweat in the summer. I want our home to be comfortable. However, I am willing to wear different clothing in my home. In the winter, I’m willing to throw on a sweater and some socks. This allows us to lower the thermostat a degree or two. We turn it down an additional degree or two at night when we’re all snuggled under the covers. While this might not make a big dent in the bill, it makes a small difference.
The Cable Bill
I’m a little weird on this one. We got rid of our cable a few years ago, and we haven’t regretted it. (My parents are kind enough to host the Ohio State football game parties during football season.) We’ve been amazed at how much more productive we’ve been since we got rid of our cable! And with free Redbox movie rentals and Hulu, we have plenty to watch.
If you can’t get rid of your cable, you might call and ask about any special deals that are being offered. Friends of ours found out that if they gave up their cable for a few months they would be considered new customers again, meaning that they were entitled to all of the fabulous deals offered to lure new customers. It might be worth giving up the cable for the summer months so that you can get a great deal in the fall.
The Trash Bill
I don’t know if our trash service allows this, but you might be able to switch to every other week pickup. This might cut your bill in half. We’ve also started to recycle paper at our house. This doesn’t cut our trash bill, but it has REALLY cut down on the amount of trash we send to the curb each week. And it’s earned money for Emma’s school in the process!
The Phone Bill
Ditch the land line if possible. We can’t do this, because we have a DSL Internet connection. When we move we’ll be able to consider this one, as DSL isn’t available at the new location.
If you have to keep the land line, it’s worth a call to the phone company to review the list of services you’re paying for each month. You may have features that you never use. Why not get rid of them? And while you have the representative on the phone, it can’t hurt to ask about any special deals they might have available.
The Water Bill
Our water bill is always over the regular limit. Having a little one who takes a bath rather than a shower means that ours will always be a little bit more. But I’m thinking that, with a front loading washing machine, we could be running slightly larger loads of laundry. We could also shave a minute or two off of each shower. (If we each showered for just 2 minutes less each day, that would be 24 hours less water running each year!)
We already turn off the water while we brush our teeth, and we run our dishwasher packed to the gills. So I’m thinking that the shower is the best way for us to save!
So how do you save on utility bills? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve that you’d be willing to share?This post is linked to:
:: Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family
:: Frugal Friday hosted by Life As MOM
Hi there! Niki here, dropping in from over at Free 2 Be Frugal. I really enjoyed your Frugal Friday post…the weather here in NJ is the same. Drives me crazy!
Stop by and see me sometime.
🙂
Great tips Jennifer! I would love to have you link up at Thrifty Thursday!
We too are doing the Dave Ramsey class….we are faciliating it this time around. We are finally debt free except for the house and now will have one in college next year. We just got rid of our land line when our bundle(phone, cable and internet) went up $50 one month. Since all four of us have cell phones, this was an easy fix for us. We are thinking about selling our house here. We live in TX and have HIGH ceilings….can you say $400-500 electric bills in the summer! Not energy efficient at all. Since moving here from the midwest 3 year ago, we have acquired allergies, so opening the windows right now is out for us and the a/c is running!
Great ideas! We dropped down to extreme basic cable and so far it has saved us $500 in 7 months plus a lot of bad shows. 😀
Have a great weekend!
Sherry
Our electric company has raised rates eevry quarter for the last 2 1/2 yers. Here in Las Vegas, running the a/c is a must for most of the year, because when it’s 115º outside, it quickly gets to 98º inside–at which point cabinets and doorframes start warping (a big problem in foreclosed homes here).
Having an electric bill of $600 in the summer for 3 months in not uncommon here.
Despite 4 rate increases, I managed to lower our bill $150 in the summer in one year.
Ceiling fans do help–but not if you’re not in the rooom. I was turning off lights, but leaving ceiling fans on in every room all day. Sure, we’re all home all day–but that doesn’t mean we’re in all the rooms every day. This made a HUGE difference in my bill.
One month, the only thing I changed was making sure all of the kitchen lights were off during dinner except for the ones over the table. This saved us $20 a month.
Turning my computer off at night was another big one. Though everyone said it doesn’t take much energy, just doing that saved me $50 a month.
I read a study that said if you would be out of the room for more than 2 minutes, it was worth turning off the lights.
We keep the lights off in the house most of the day, and just use natural light. Open the curtains!
The electric company says that 1 degree of difference in temperature can mean 2-5% difference in your bill. In summer, we keep the house at 79º; in winter, at 65º.
Thanks for sharing the specifics on how much you saved, Brandy. I’m amazed at the $50 savings in turning off your computer each night. It’s something I do so that my settings all have a chance to reset. I guess I didn’t realize it was a frugal move as well! I have a large color laser printer that we leave on sometimes. Maybe I need to start shutting that down every night too. Who knows how much power is being wasted without it even being used?!
Great tips! We have not had satellite TV for over a year. Occasionally we miss a few channels like HGTV and the Food Network but really don’t miss network TV at all. It is okay to be weird. 🙂
I would caution against getting rid of your land line, though. We have toyed with the idea for a quite a while. We have 2 little ones at home and occasionally like to have a date night. We can’t count on the babysitter to always have a cell phone so if there is an emergency while you are gone (with you cell phone), how will the sitter call 911?
That’s a good thing to think about Pam, one I hadn’t thought of. Since my husband and I both have cells, I think we could leave one of those home. But I’ll have to talk with him more about that issue. Thanks!
I’m a single mom who has no money for much. As of March, 2010 I now have a MagicJack. It has taken the place of a landline. I live in Austin, TX where allergies are rampant all year long. I had solar screens put in and six inches of insulation put in. I live in a two-story condo which is HOT!!! The first summer here my bills were $200 and now run about $130. I do have cable, basic, but only because it also has my internet service which was cheaper than using the phone company.
We do a lot of these. I need to be more diligent about shutting off lights, though. Never thought about the trash pickup. Thanks for sharing!
Love your tips. We use a space heater in the winter to cut back on using the furnace.
We have DSL with ATT and we don’t have a landline. I think the prices for it start at $24 and we pay $42. There was no extra charge for not having a landline either.
A couple of tips we have used, as well, along this line:
Hang out some laundry to dry (I don’t do it all that way, but it definitely cuts the dryer costs)
Hand wash dishes…I’ve done this at times, and analyzed the power bill…for every load we handwashed, we saved about a dollar on the power bill.
We dumped cable a few months back and don’t regret it at all. We have Netflix, though, with the instant streaming, plus Hulu. And if you google “Free Redbox Code” they are always promoting free rentals if we “must see” something before Netflix gets it.
Husband and I are pretty aware of our energy useage, so we try to cut wherever possible. One small change is to keep small appliances unplugged when not in use. Even though the coffeemaker may not be dripping delicious java, if it has a clock, it is using precious pennies each day. Set an alarm clock in your bathroom to time showers. Make it a contest for your kids to see who showers fastest (assuming they won’t cheat and come out just as dirty as they entered, only boasting mysteriously damp hair). Additionally, place 1 or 2 small Coke bottles filled with gravel in each toilet tank. This will make your toilet use less water per flush, without impeding functionality. Last one, if you have extra space in the fridge or freezer, fill a water bottle, empty margarine container, heck, even a gallon jug with water and place inside to help the appliance keep up temperature without having to work as hard.
I’ve tried to cut back on my utilities bill, but somehow this past month, even with everything i’ve been doing (including using a solar cooker to cook my food), my electric bill was way too high! I’m looking forward to moving to my new place and downsizing and getting rid of our fish tank and lots of our other junk. I’m hoping that that will really cut our electric bill. Like really really hope.